Facile route to freestanding CH3NH3PbI3 crystals using inverse solubility.

CH3NH3PbI3 was found to exhibit inverse solubility at high temperatures in γ-butyrolactone. Making use of this unusual, so far unreported phenomenon, we present a facile method for the growth of freestanding crystals of CH3NH3PbI3 from solution without addition of any capping agents or seed particles. Large, strongly faceted crystals could be grown within minutes. This finding may aid in understanding the crystallization process of CH3NH3PbI3 from solution that may lead to improved morphological control of film deposition for a range of device architectures. Our process offers a facile and rapid route to freestanding crystals for use in a broad range of characterization techniques.

Loading of mesoporous titania films by CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite, single step vs. sequential deposition.

Infiltration of mesoporous TiO2 scaffolds by CH3NH3PbI3 is more complete when using sequential compared to single step deposition processing and avoids formation of disordered capping layers affording greatly improved performance of perovskite based photovoltaics.